After Graduation, What?

The North Carolina Collection has a wide variety of ephemeral materials related to the history of UNC, including announcements, programs, bulletins, and posters. While sorting through new items, I found this undated brochure from the old University Placement Service entitled “After Graduation, What?” The imagery of the graduate standing alone and looking back at the Old Well struck me as an accurate portrayal of the bittersweet feelings of many recent-graduates. And then I opened the brochure, saw the scary job-search font on the next page, and knew that I had to share it with others.

Placement Service brochure cover Placement Service brochure page 2

The advertised Placement Service—for which students registered at the beginning of their final year—gave various types of career advice, notified students of job vacancies and examinations for which they were qualified, nominated registrants for open positions, arranged interviews, and answered inquiries about specific people from prospective employers. Some of the advice is timeless, but perhaps my favorite tidbit from the Service is the dated reminder, “And, girls, married or not, most of you will work sometime!”